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International Journal of Sustainable Energy

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A Novel Passive Solar Greenhouse Based on Phase-Change Materials

E. Korina; A. Roya; D. Wolfa; D. Pasternakb; E. Rappeportb
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel b The
Boyko Institute for Agriculture & Applied Biology, The Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

First published on: 10 June 2010

To cite this Article Korin, E. , Roy, A. , Wolf, D. , Pasternak, D. and Rappeport, E.(1987) 'A Novel Passive Solar Greenhouse
Based on Phase-Change Materials', International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 5: 3, 201 — 212, First published on: 10
June 2010 (iFirst)
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/01425918708914419
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425918708914419

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 Int. J. Solar Energy, 1987, Vol. 5, pp. 201-212
Photocopying permitted by license only
© 1987 harwood academic publishers GmbH
Printed in the United Kingdom

A Novel Passive Solar Greenhouse

Based on Phase-Change Materials
E. KORIN.* A. ROY and D. WOLF
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurian University of the Negev,
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84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel

D. PASTERNAK and E. RAPPE PORT

The Boyko Institute for Agriculture & Applied Biology, The Institutes for
Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84110 Beer-Sheva,
Israel

(Receiued September 29, 1986)

A novel concept for a passive solar greenhouse for regions with mild winter climates
is described. The concept was tested with a 660m2 prototype greenhouse. The roof of
the greenhouse was made of modular double-layered transparent panels filled with a
latent heat-storage material. During both night and day, the thermal performance of
the test building was significantly better than that of the control glass house. The
main drawback of the proposed method is that the light intensity is low in the
morning until the solid Latent Heat Storage Material (LHSM) is completely melted.
Therefore, practical application of this method is restricted to specific crops and
climate regions.
KEY WORDS: Greenhouse, passive, phase-change materials.

INTRODUCTION
The successful operation of any greenhouse depends on maintaining
the inside temperature within a specific desired range, for example,
16-28°C for roses. In climates having clear mild winter days the air
temperatures in a greenhouse can reach a peak of over 35°C and
drop rapidly to ambient temperature at night (Figure 1). Thus, on
most winter days heat has to be removed during the day by natural
or forced ventilation, while at night heat must be supplied. One of
• Present address: Institute for Engineering, the Institutes for Applied Research,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84110, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

201
 202 E. KORIN el al.

Minimum allowed temperature

_______________ w _
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0800

FIGURE 1 Typical air temperature inside (e) and outside (0) a glasshouse (Feb.
1982.31 'N latitude).

the most attractive ways to decrease heating costs in areas with mild
winters is to collect and store the surplus solar energy during the
day and to use it to reduce energy consumption for heating at night.
Most of the many solar systems that have been proposed and
studied experimentally are active. They can be classified into two
groups based on whether the working fluid for heat transfer is a
liquid or a gas. In systems with liquid working fluids, energy is
collected and dissipated by the flow of water or an aqueous
solution, which acts as an optical filter, through a double-layered
transparent roof. 1 ,2.3 This method takes advantage of the positive
heat-transfer properties of water. However, for storage of energy as
sensible heat, a large volume of water is needed.F' If heat is stored
in the greenhouse soil,' the heat transfer is limited by the low
heat-transfer coefficient of soil.
In a system with a gaseous working fluid, warm air from inside
the greenhouse is circulated by a blower through an energy-storage
system. In systems which have been tested, the energy is stored as
sensible heat of water" or of rocks" or as latent heat in a
LHSM like calcium chloride hexahydrate."
The main advantage of this method is that no separate mechan-
ism is needed for collecting the excess energy. As in liquid systems,
a large storage volume is needed, approximately 1.5 m3 of rocks,
0.5 rrr' of water, or 0.05 rrr' of LHSM per m2 of greenhouse floor
 INVERTERS FOR PV APPLICATIONS 203

area under Israel's climatic conditions. The main disadvantage is

that a very large heat-transfer surface is required, because of the
poor heat -transfer properties of air.
The direct contact method was proposed as a solution to this
problem.?:" In this method the heat transfer processes of charging
and discharging occur by direct contact between water drops and air
contained between two plastic sheets in the upper region of the
greenhouse," or in a heat exchange unit in the northern end of the
greenhouse.P'? About 12 W/m 2 of electricity is required to operate
the system, Since the air humidity in the greenhouse is always near
saturation, the practical use of this method is limited to crops that
tolerate these conditions.
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In this article, we describe a new concept of a passive solar

greenhouse for regions with mild winters, which requires no special
mechanisms for its operation. The basic material components of a
prototype passive solar greenhouse and the main results of tests on
its thermal and optical performance are presented,

CONCEPT AND BASIC COMPONENTS

The basic idea behind the passive solar greenhouse is to use

transparent panels filled with a LHSM as its outer envelope
(especially the roof). 10 The enclosed LHSM has to be highly
transparent to the photosynthetically active solar' radiation (400-
700 nm), but opaque enough in the infrared range to reduce heat
dissipation at night. During the day the LHSM collects and stores
excess solar energy at the phase-change temperature, while melting.
During the night the LHSM solidifies and releases the latent heat to
keep the greenhouse ceiling temperature relatively high. This
reduces radiative and convective heat dissipation from indoor parts
of the greenhouse, including the soil, plants, and air. It also helps
reduce dew formation inside the greenhouse.
The greenhouse building itself is thus utilized as a passive solar
system for reduction of both daytime ventilation and night-time
heating. In principle, the method can be used for decreasing energy
consumption in heated greenhouses or for improving crop yields by
raising the night-time temperature in unheated greenhouse.
The semi-transparent thermal energy storage panel is composed
 204 E. KORIN et al.

of two basic components, plastic panelling and a latent-heat storage

material.

Plastic panelling
Several types of double-layered transparent plastic panels, made of
acrylic, polyethylene, polycarbonate, etc., are available on the
market. For our study, we chose a hollow-channelled polycarbonate
panel. It transmits about 80 percent of solar radiation and is opaque
in the infrared range, unbreakable, and nonflammable. It is
produced in various thicknesses. The hollow-channelled structure of
the panel has several advantages for our application: (a) for crops
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which require high levels of illumination it is possible to increase the

light intensity somewhat (at the expense of heat storage) by leaving
some of the channels empty; (b) enclosing the LHSM in narrow
horizontal channels helps in overcoming segregation of the salt-
hydrate energy storage material (when such material is used); and
(c) if one channel is punctured only a small amount of LHSM will
be lost and the other channels will not be affected.
However, there are two disadvantages. (a) Polycarbonate is
permeable to water vapor. When it is used to enclose a salt-hydrate,
permeation of water through the polycarbonate dilutes the salt,
decreasing the latent heat capacity and the phase-change transition
temperature. (b) Long periods of exposure to high intensities of
solar radiation reduce light transmission, due to photochemical
decomposition of the polycarbonate.

Latent heat storage material

The panel must not only improve the thermal performance of the
greenhouse, but also transmit enough solar radiation for the crop
inside. Therefore, in addition to the usual criteria that must be
considered for selection of LHSM,l1 special attention must be given
to the optical properties of the materials.
White paraffins such as n-heptadecane (m.p. 22.8°C), n-
hexadecane (m.p. 17.8°C), and various eutectic paraffins may be
good candidates. However, most of these materials are too expen-
sive for practical use. For this study, we used LHSMs that are
basically mixtures of salt hydrates such as MgCh'6H zO,
 INVERTERS FOR PV APPLICATIONS 205

CaBr2·6H20, and CaCh·6H20 (ref. 12). Each LHSM undergoes

melting/solidification over 2-3°C intervals temperature and latent
heat capacity ranging from 10-28°C and 115-170kJ/kg respec-
tively. Each LHSM contains special nucleating agents to reduce
supercooling. Conventional thickening agents (like fine silica gel),
which are often used to prevent phase separation and settling of
nucleating agents, cannot be used for our purposes because they
significantly reduce light transmission.

EXPERIMENTAL PROTOTYPE GREENHOUSES

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Two prototype greenhouses 6 m wide, 11 m long, and 3.1 m high

were built (Fig. 2). The roofs had two 22° slopes, one facing east
and the other west. The walls were insulated with 5-cm-thick
polystyrene foam blocks, covered on the inside with reflective
aluminium foil and on the outside with O.l-mm-thick polyethylene
sheeting. This insulation minimized heat losses through the walls,
and thus the prototypes simulated the thermal performance of the
center of a large commercial greenhouse. The test building was
roofed with 48 energy-storage panels. Each panel was 1.8 m long,
0.8 m wide, and 0.01 m thick and was divided into 80 channels. The
channels were filled with a salt-hydrate mixture composed of
CaCh·6H 20 and CaBr2·6H20 in a 3: 2 weight ratio, with an added
nucleating agent. This energy-storage material has a transition
temperature of 14-16 "C and a latent heat capacity of 152 kJ /kg. Its
density in the liquid form is 1670 kg/rrr' (at 40 0C) and as a solid
1860 kg/rn" (at 5°C). To reduce stresses occurring due to the
difference in density between the liquid and solid forms, the
channels were filled to only 90% of capacity, blocked with silicon
glue, and sealed with an aluminum strip while the LHSM was in the
liquid state. Each panel was filled with 21.5 kg LHSM and had a
latent heat storage capacity of about 3.27 MJ. The second building,
which served as the control, had a conventional glass roof. Roses
were planted in the test and control buildings.
A 15-kW back-up electrical heater was installed in the control
and in the test building. The heaters were controlled by air
thermostats which were adjusted to turn the heaters on when the
temperature decreased to 16°C. Energy consumption was measured
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t------6.00m - - - -....

FIGURE 2 Diagram of temperature recording points in the experimental solar and

control greenhouses. Recording points: I. air temperature, center, 0.3 m above
ground; 2. air temperature, center, 1.5 m above ground; 3. air temperature, 3 m
above ground; 4. at the western wall, 1.5 m above ground; 5. at the eastern wall,
1.5 m above ground; 6. wet bulb temperature, center 1.5 m above ground; 7. soil
temperature, depth of 5 em; 8. soil temperature, depth of I em; 9. soil temperature,
depth of 30 em; to. LHSM temperature west slope; 11. LHSM temperature, east
slope; 12. ceiling temperature, west; 13. ceiling temperature, east; 14. roof
temperature, west; 15. roof temperature, east.
 INVERTERS FOR PV APPLICATIONS 207

daily with wattmeters. Each building was equipped with an air fan
driven by a 0.5-hp motor. Operation of the fans was regulated by a
thermostat adjusted to a set point of 28°C. A schematic diagram of
the temperature-recording points in each of the buildings is shown
in Figure 2. The temperatures were measured with 0.8-mm-thick
copper-constantan thermocouples. Solar radiation intensities were
measured continuously in each building and outdoors, with Kip &
Zonen Solarimeters, model CM5. The solarimeters were placed in
the center of each building, 2 m above the ground. Light intensity
and quanta were measured with portable Licor equipment.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Thermal performance
The thermal performance of the structures was tested under two
conditions: with and without back-up heating and ventilation.
Keeping air temperatures with 16-18°C with back-up heating and
forced ventilation. During clear winter days, when a complete
melting/solidification cycle occurred, the energy saving was typically
above 30 percent. For example, for three days (19-21 January
1983), the energy consumption in the solar greenhouse was
391.5 kWH compared to 581 kWH in the control greenhouse. This
is equivalent to a savings of 0.82 tons of fuel/hectare per day, which
agreed well with our calculations (not shown). For thirty consecu-
tive days in the middle of winter (12 January to 12 February 1983),
the total energy savings was 21 percent.
Without back -up heating or ventilation. Figure 3 shows the ceiling
and air temperature profiles on a typical clear winter day. Solidifi-
cation of the LHSM started at about 5 p.m. and continued for about
3 hours. During this time, the ceiling temperatures in the solar
building were 6-7°C higher than in the control building; after-
wards, the difference decreased to 2-3 °C. As a result, radiative and
convective heat losses from inside the solar greenhouse at night are
decreased. Typical measured temperature differences between the
solar and the control greenhouse were as follows: air temperature
 208 E. KORIN et al.

/:)-6 Outdoor Air

..... Control Building
0"0 Solar BuildinO
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0800 1600 2000

Time(hood
FIGURE 3 Ceiling temperature profile of 22° west slope in unventilated, unheated
solar test building and in control building during a clear winter day (3 Dec. 1982,
31 oN latitude).

~ Outdoor Air
__ Control BuildinQ
Solor Building
00"0

OBOO

FIGURE 4 Air temperature profile at 1.5 m height in unventilated, unheated solar

test building and in control building during a clear winter day (3 Dec. 1982, 31 ON
latitude).
 INVERTERS FOR PV APPLICATIONS 209

(Figure 4) from sunset to 11 p.m. was about 4"C higher and for the
rest of the night, I-2°C higher; the temperatures of the leaves and
soil (30 ern depth) were 1-1.5 °C higher in the solar structure during
the entire night. In both structures, the dew-point temperature was
about I-2°C higher than the leaf temperature throughout the night.
Therefore, condensation of water on leaves did not occur in either
the solar greenhouse or the glasshouse. As expected, the increase
and decrease in air temperature during the daytime are steeper in
the control building than in the solar building (Fig. 4).
Besides improving the thermal regime, the solar greenhouse can
enhance growing conditions by prolonging the period when the air
is enriched with CO 2 , before ventilation begins. For example, for
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roses the maximum allowed temperature is 28°C. Thus, on a clear

day (Figure 4), ventilation in the solar structure has to start at about
11:30 a.m., compared with 09: 30 a.m. in the control structure.
Figure 5 shows the importance of roof orientation in the solar
greenhouse. The temperature on the east side reached a maximum
of 28°C as 12: 00, compared with a maximum of 34.5°C at
02: 00 p.m. on the western side.

0800 1000 1200 1400 1600

Time (hour)
FIGURE 5 Ceiling temperature profiles of western and eastern slopes in unventi-
lated test and control buildings during a clear winter day (3 Dec. 1982, 31 "N
latitude, Total radiation 9.8 MJ/m 2 day).
 210 E. KORIN et al.

Light and Crops

Laboratory measurements showed that a 10-mm-thick clear panel
filled with a liquid salt-hydrate LHSM mixture transmits about 90%
of visible radiation (400-700 nm). This is 10% higher than an empty
panel and as high as clear glass. However, transmission of visible
light is reduced to about 15% when the LHSM is completely in the
solid state.
Figure 6 shows the daily solar radiation and visible light intensity
profiles measured in the solar and control structures during a cloudy
and a clear day. On clear winter days, the sunlight intensity in the
control building was 40-65 klux compared with 20-40 klux in the
solar greenhouse, which is near the saturation level for many crops.
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The unexpected midday light reduction in the test greenhouse was

due to dust accumulation on the polycarbonate panels and to
delayed melting of the LHSM in the eastern facing roof panels. On
cloudy days the light intensity in the control building was 15-30
klux, compared with only 7-15 klux in the solar greenhouse. On
cloudy days the reduction in light intensity should have a negative
effect on plant growth.
CLOUDY, RAINY DAY
_ Outl1oor
...... Control Build,nq
...... Solar B",illSinQ

oeoo 1200

FIGURE 6 Total solar radiation and visible light intensity inside a test building and
a control glass greenhouse, during a clear day (9 March 1983) and a cloudy day (17
Feb. 1983).
 INVERTERS FOR PV APPLICATIONS 211

Measurements of light intensity at various spots inside the

structure showed that the light inside the test building was distrib-
uted better than in the control structure. That is, the ratio between
diffused and direct sunlight was higher in the solar building than in
the control, and therefore the light can be utilized with higher
efficiency by the plants.
The main goal of the experimental work at this stage of the
project was to obtain thermal and optical data on the solar structure
rather than to study the agricultural aspects. Some data on
development of roses in the solar and control structures were
collected; however, since the growth conditions were not identical
during the whole season, the findings are not conclusive.
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CONCLUSIONS

A new type of passive solar greenhouse is described. The collection,

storage, and dissipation of solar energy is carried out by the
greenhouse structure itself, which is made of modular transparent
panels filled with LHSM. The system is easy to maintain and no
external energy is needed for its operation. Our experimental
results indicate that this passive solar greenhouse can be used in
regions with mild climates, like that of southern Israel (latitude
31 ON). Here, the thermal performance of the proposed greenhouse
was significantly better than that of a conventional glasshouse
during both the night and the day.
This method raises the air, leaf and soil temperatures in unheated
greenhouses or to decrease consumption of fossil energy controlled
temperature greenhouses. The major disadvantage of the method is
the reduction in light intensity by the solid LHSM until it is
completely melted. Therefore, future studies on the practical
application of this method must be restricted to specific crops and
climate conditions. The thermal and optical performance of the
system could be improved by maximization of solar energy collec-
tion, e.g. by better design of the shape and orientation of the
greenhouse, decreasing the phase-change transition temperature of
the encapsulated LHSM, and adding optical filters to the LHSM to
enhance solar heat absorption without decreasing light transmission.
 212 E. KORIN et at.

Acknowledgements

The R&D for developing the Ben-Gurion University passive soiar greenhouse was
supported by the Israeli Ministry of Energy and B.G.U.R. Company. The authors
are indebted to Ms. H. Klotz and Ms. M. Mamana for their technical assistance, to
Drs. M. A. Tiefert and M. Kayden for help with the manuscript, and to Ms. Marion
Milner and Ms. T. Barneis for typing.

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